4.45pm: Before we end today's live coverage of the markets, here's how the region's bourses are faring:

Japan (Nikkei): -0.1%

Hong Kong: -0.9%

Shanghai: -0.7%

Taiwan: -1.9%

South Korea: -0.4%

Singapore: -0.6%

New Zealand: +0.1%

4.38pm: Private equity firm CVC, facing heavy potential losses on its investment in Nine Entertainment, plans to kick off the sale of the group's ticket agency this week when it sends information to suitors, Reuters quotes an unnamed sources as saying.

The Events division of Nine, which includes Australia's largest sports and entertainment ticketing agency Ticketek, has drawn "healthy interest" from domestic and global private equity firms and from other media companies, the source told Reuters.

4.27pm: IMF chief Christine Lagarde hopes to gain broad consensus on a more than $US400 billion rise in the fund's firepower this week, an Italian newspaper quotes her as saying, though it may take some time to gain final commitments.

"I really hope this week we'll reach the critical mass of more than $400 billion. We are determined to do all we can," Christine Lagarde told financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore.

"I am ready to leave the matter open for a few weeks: some countries need a little bit more time for parliamentary approval," she added.

4.15pm: Among the major sectors, both materials and energy fell 0.7 per cent, while financials slipped 0.1 per cent. Health and consumer discretionary bucked the trned, rising 0.5 and 0.4 per cent respectively.

4.12pm: The market has closed just above the day's low. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 13.7 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4288.6, while the broader All Ords shed 13.9 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4368.6.

4.07pm: India's central bank has cut interest rates for the first time in three years by an unexpectedly sharp 50 basis points 8.00 per cent to give a boost to flagging economic growth but warned that there is limited scope for further rate cuts.

Investors cheered the rate cut, with bond yields and swap rates falling sharply and stocks extending gains, although the rally might be capped by expectations that there will be few further cuts in the near term.

"The guidance is important - that RBI is indicating that there is limit for further rate cut expectation, and I think they are pretty much done with further rate cuts this year," says Rajeev Malik, economist at CLSA in Singapore.

The dollar gradually lost ground after the Reserve Bank repeated in the minutes of its April policy meeting that it could consider cutting rates in May if inflation data, due out next week, proved benign.

Markets are nearly fully priced for a cut next month with interbank futures implying a 90 per cent chance of a 25 basis-point easing in May and a total of 85.5 bps in cuts by the end of the year.

"Ultimately the RBA left the door open for rate cuts, we've seen the euro give up some its gains and it looks like Asian equities, particularly Chinese stocks are softer as well," says Greg Gibbs, a strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland.

He says the Aussie seems to be caught in a downtrend due to the possible rate cuts and rising worries about Europe's debt troubles.

3.55pm: Some more production numbers from Rio:

Rio produced 119,000 tonnes of copper across its five mines, well below the 146,000 tonnes produced in the March quarter of 2011 and the 137,000 tonnes produced in the three months to December 31.

The company said the reduction was due to mining at its Kennecott mine in Utah moving into a lower grade section of ore.

Pacific Aluminium, the collection of struggling Australasian aluminium assets that Rio is seeking to divest, also produced slightly less than in the recent December and September quarters.

The reduction in uranium production was largely due to the performance of Northern Territory miner Energy Resources of Australia, which is evolving from a producer into an explorer again.

3.43pm: Turning to today's offshore sessions, European shares are heading for a mixed start, as concerns about Spain's rising cost of borrowing capped appetite for equities ahead of an auction of Spanish debt later in the day.

FTSE futures are down 23 points at 5613.5, indicating some losses at the start of trade in London, while spreadbetters are expecting Frankfurt's DAX to gain 8-11 points, or up to 0.2 per cent. But Paris' CAC 40 was seen opening 2-4 points lower, or a fall of as much 0.1 per cent.

Madrid's sale of 12- and 18-month treasury bills later today is expected to see yields jumping from the previous tender, reflecting a shift in market concerns over its deficit and banking sector that has pushed longer term risk premiums above 6 per cent, threatening a new crisis in the euro zone.

Germany's ZEW monthly survey of economic sentiment will also offer another signal on the state of Europe's largest economy. The index of German analyst and investor sentiment is expected to have eased to 20 in April, according to analysts polled by Reuters, after hitting its highest level since June 2010 at 22.3 in the previous month.

3.34pm: CMC Markets trader Ben Taylor blames the RBA's April minutes for the afternoon drop in the market:

I believe traders were looking for reasons why the Australian interest rate was not dropped at the RBA’s minutes.

Many investors feel that given weakness in exports, housing and non-mining investment mixed with a higher Aussie dollar a better response was warranted than waiting on Q1 CPI to justify the no-change decision.

3.14pm: Rio Tinto cited a series of weather-related disruptions to ports and mines as reason for the drop in iron ore production.

"We had a solid first quarter with increased production of iron ore, coal, bauxite, alumina and titanium dioxide compared with the first quarter of 2011," Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese said in a statement in the latest quarterly operations report.

Rio Tinto gave no detailed commentary on demand, but there have been market concerns that commodity imports by China will drop off this year in step with slowing industrial growth.

3.10pm: Rio's quarterly production report is out. The miner says March quarter iron ore output was down 10 per cent 46 million tonnes and is aiming for 250 million tonnes in the full year.

Shares dipped about half a dollar to $65, and are now at $65.11, down 8 cents for the day.

The minutes make clear the policy easing all but promised by the governor two weeks would come from a domestically-induced slowdown, not the wide world’s vicissitudes.

And a key factor in that is “the likelihood of significant fiscal tightening in the next few years” – alias Canberra’s bi-partisan surplus craving.

2.51pm: Sales of new motor vehicles climbed to their highest level in 22 months in March, a sign consumers still have the confidence to splash out on big ticket items.

Government figures showed new vehicle sales rose 4 per cent in March to 89,694 on a seasonally adjusted basis, the highest total since May 2010.

Sales of sports utility vehicles resumed their blistering run with an increase of 7.5 per cent in March, from the previous month, to leave them 18.4 per cent higher for the year.

2.37pm: More on Castlemaine... managing director Matthew Gill says LionGold has made it "relatively clear" that (Castlemaine) won't be the last potential acquisition that they're looking at".

"They're quite aggressive in their growth profile and looking at what opportunities there are in the gold space.

"There are quite a few undervalued gold operations that may well come across their table and interest them."

2.27pm: Shares in Castlemaine Goldfields are climbing again today in the wake of a $48.6 million friendly takeover offer by Singapore's LionGold Corp.

Castlemaine shares are up half a cent, or 3.3 per cent, to 15.5 cents in afternoon trade.

LionGold, a fellow gold miner, on Monday offered two of its Singapore Stock Exchange-listed shares for every nine Castlemaine shares held, valuing the target at 18.4 cents.

2.20pm: CommSec's Craig James says while the RBA minutes suggest the Reserve Bank maintains an easing bias, the final hurdle to a rate cut next month remains the quarterly inflation data - released next Tuesday.

"In our view if the inflation result comes in at or below 0.7 per cent for the March quarter, it should provide the Reserve Bank with additional degree of comfort and allow policy makers to cut interest rates by 25 basis points," he says.

"In fact we expect headline inflation to be of a much more subdued nature coming in around 0.5 per cent with underlying inflation at 0.6 per cent for the March quarter – in short providing the Reserve Bank with the valid scope to cut rates."

2.12pm: IKEA, the world's largest furniture maker, is set to enter the consumer electronics market with products developed in co-operation with China-based TCL Multimedia, IKEA officials say.

The Swedish group, known the world over for low-price, self-assembly flat-packed furniture, plans to launch a line of furniture with integrated connected television and sound systems in five European cities in June, throughout seven European countries this autumn, and in its remaining markets in the summer of 2013. No word yet if a launch in Australia is on the cards.

2pm: In Asia, renewed fears over Europe's sovereign debt crisis continues to dampen sentiment as investors also weighed a mixed bag of data out of the United States.

Tokyo is up 0.18 per cent, but Hong Kong is down 0.32 per cent, Shanghai has lost 0.47 per cent and Seoul is 0.14 per cent lower.

1.53pm: Medical device developer Osprey Medical has successfully raised $20 million from an initial public offer (IPO) and is readying to list on the Australian share market.

The US-based company's main product is the CINCOR System, which helps reduce the risk of kidney damage caused by a toxic dye that is used in some forms of heart surgery.

The technology was developed in Melbourne.

Osprey says it has met its target of raising $20 million through the offer 50 million CHESS Depository Interests (CDIs) to investors.

1.44pm: Oil prices are mixed in Asian trade as investors weigh easing concerns over a supply disruption in the Middle East and signs of growing US consumer demand.

New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for delivery in May is up three cents to $US102.96 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for June shed 38 cents to $US118.30 in morning trade.

"Investors are seeing the Iran talks over the weekend as fairly positive and that is putting downside pressure on Brent crude currently," says Nick Trevethan, senior commodities strategist at ANZ Research.

1.38pm: The Australian government risks making an "enemy" of China if it does not embrace the country's rise to power and give Chinese companies the same opportunities it gives those from other countries, according to former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

Speaking at the CommsDay Summt in Sydney, Mr Downer has urged the Gillard government to not see China as a threat and to pursue a policy of engagement, not containment. Full story here.

1.24pm: After fighting bravely against it, markets have tipped into negative territory for the first time today. Both the All Ords and the ASX200 are trading at 0.1 per cent lower. Anyone want to have a guess at where markets will close?

According to this morning's poll, the majority - or 41 per cent - of voters predicted the ASX200 would close flat to 0.5 per cent higher. Only 14 per cent said the ASX200 would close flat to 0.5 per cent lower. Here are the full results of the poll.

1.19pm: The Aussie is currently trading at $1.0333, within sight of yesterday's lows of $1.0311. It dipped after the release of the minutes of the RBA's April policy meeting, which reiterated the message that the central bank would consider cutting rates in May if inflation data, due out next week, proved benign.

Markets have already nearly fully priced in a cut next month. Interbank futures imply a 90 per cent chance of a 25bp easing in May and a total of 85.5 bps in cuts by the end of the year.

1.14pm: A change of personel appears to be driving a slide in James Hardie shares today. Its shares have lost 2.2 per cent to $7.50 after it said the head of its US business, the group's biggest division, was quitting and Chief Executive Louis Gries would run that arm.

1.06pm: The almost 7 per cent rise in Lynas shares today has come ahead ahead of a Malaysian government hearing on Tuesday (local time) on whether to further delay issuing a license for the company's rare earths plant due to environmental concerns.

The government is seen in favour of the plant, while the political opposition has backed a campaign against it based on fears that radiation from rare earths waste could harm the local community.

1.01pm: The growth of fly-in, fly-out workers to service remote mining and gas precincts has brought an increase in sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse and mental illness in workers, writes BusinessDay’s Perth-based resource reporter Rania Spooner, who is sitting in on the FIFO inquiry today.

The Australian Medical Association also warned the inquiry that operating costs were driving regional doctors out of mining towns, where medical resources are already stretched.

Western Australia, which has more than 50,000 workers on fly-in, fly-out rosters, runs the risk of an STD epidemic involving resilient South-East Asian strains, AMA WA president David Mountain told the inquiry.

12.47pm: With markets now more or less flat for the day, here's how the various sub indices are performing:

Info tech - up 0.72%

Consumer discretionary - up 0.58%

Health - up 0.36%

Financials - up 0.17%

Materials - down 0.14%

Energy - down 0.3%

12.37pm: Shares in Energy Resources of Australia continue to perform well today. They have added 7.64 per cent today after Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said the "worst was behind" the company. Other tops stocks today include:

Lynas - up 5%

Ardent Leisure - up 2.89%

Incitec Pivot - up 2.85%

Macquarie Group - up 2.28%

Ausdrill - up 2.03%

12.32pm: More on the Billabong sale of its Nixon accessories brand.

Billabong will also shed 400 jobs as part of a restructure aimed at restoring the company’s fortunes. The sale is expected to result in a significant one-off gain in the group’s income statement in the year ending June 30.

‘‘This will be reduced by the previously announced impairment charge for the group’s South Africa business and any other abnormal one-off charges that arise from the group’s continuing strategic review,’’ Billabong said.

In February, Billabong reported a 71 per cent slump in first-half net profit to $16.097 million for the six months to December 31, 2011.

12.24pm: Markets are beating a hasty retreat on the RBA's soft outlook of the global economy this year. Both the All Ords and the ASX200 are now 0.1 per cent higher, down from a gain of 0.5 per cent earlier in the day. Is there still a chance the ASX200 will close in positive territory? Is that blow to sentiment going to see markets slide into the red and stay there?

12.19pm: Sales of new motor vehicles in Australia rose four per cent in March, official data shows.

In March, 89,964 new vehicles were sold, seasonally adjusted, compared to an upwardly revised 86,203 in February, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, released today, show. In the year to March, new motor vehicle sales rose four per cent, seasonally adjusted.

12.13pm: Another view here on the RBA minutes, this time from RBC Capital Markets senior economist Su-Lin Ong.

Ms Ong said the minutes provided no indication as to whether the RBA was considering more than one rate cut.

‘‘But clearly the bias to ease is there and it could imply more than one cut depending on how the economy responds and I think we need to wait for the next range of data and the first one is obviously the inflation data.’’

12.04pm: Looking again at the RBA minutes, HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham said it appeared the RBA was waiting for guidance from the consumer price index (CPI) data due on April 24 to shape its decision in May.

‘‘It was pretty clear from the board meeting that although growth was a bit lower than expected, they didn’t feel any urgency to move,’’ he said.

‘‘They were really waiting for the CPI, and all eyes are on that now. It appears they think demand is low enough, and their inflation outlook is low enough to allow them to adjust rates, but they don’t feel any urgency, and they’d rather wait for confirmation that inflation is low enough before they actually move.’’

11.55am: Surfwear retailer Billabong has completed a $276 million sale of almost half of its Nixon accessories brand.

As part of the transaction, announced in February, Billabong and Trilantic Capital Partners will each own about 48.5 per cent of Nixon while Nixon management will own the remaining 3 per cent.

11.46am: The Reserve Bank of Australia's board thought it wiser to wait to see fresh inflation data before cutting the cash rate in April.

The RBA's decision to sit on the sidelines and leave the cash rate on hold at 4.25 per cent was made despite the pace of global economic growth being slower than expected.

In the minutes of its April 3 board meeting, the RBA acknowledged growth for the global economy was expected to be at a below trend pace in 2012 because of ongoing economic weakness in Europe and a slowing of growth in China.

"However, growth in Australia's major trading partners, weighted by shares of merchandise exports from Australia, was expected to be around average in 2012," the minutes say.

11.36am: There has been high drama in the Centro class action this morning after counsel for the group's former auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, asked a Federal Court judge to withdraw threats she made yesterday about possibly awarding costs against PwC's lawyers and counsel, Leonie Wood reports.

Richard McHugh, SC, for PwC told Justice Michelle Gordon that her comments put the people conducting the case "in a very difficult position".

11.27am: Tokyo stocks have opened almost flat with a strong yen offsetting expectations for a US economic recovery.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange is up 0.06 per cent or 5.51 points at 9476.15.

11.07am: An item here from the small business desk about how business owners view the outlook for the economy. Very worried it seems.

Confidence among smaller businesses has tumbled to levels not seen since the global financial crisis, with worries about fuel costs, cash flow and interest rates weighing on sentiment.

Less than one-fifth, or 19 per cent, of small-to-medium business owners and managers said they expected the economy to improve in the next 12 months, according to the MYOB business monitor report for March.

It helps put into context yesterday's news that the value of business loans dropped 8.4 per cent in February, following a 1.1 per cent slide in January. Read the full item.

11am: Energy Resources of Australia, a uranium producer, rallied 6.6 per cent to $1.465 after Bank of America- Merrill Lynch upgraded the shares to “buy” from “underperform,” saying the “worst is behind” the company. The brokerage’s share price-estimate is still more than 35 per cent above today’s price.

10.57am: Bell Potter senior adviser Stuart Smith said it was an encouraging sign the local market was up in early trade despite an indifferent lead from Wall Street.

Mr Smith said there were signs the US economy was starting to pick up, adding that he believed suggestions of a slowdown in China had been overstated.

‘‘I’m very confident about where the market is headed, all things being considered,’’ Mr Smith said. ‘‘Once it is realised we have got value here, then you will see the buying.’’

10.52am: The All Ords and the ASX200 are pushing higher. Both are showing gains of 0.4 per cent now, well in excess of the leads offered by the futures markets.

A quick reminder that the RBA releases the minutes of its April board meeting at 11.30am. We'll have full coverage and reaction here as soon as they are released.

10.46am: Downer EDI has won an $85 million contract to carry out electrical work on a new cancer research centre in Melbourne.

The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC) project in Parkville is being built in a public-private partnership with the Victorian state government. Downer had been awarded a contract for the supply, installation an commissioning of electrical services at the site, the company said today.

10.41am: Three out of four of the big banks are also showing small gains in early trade:

CBA is .04% higher to $50.12

ANZ is 0.22% higher to $23.17

NAB is 0.49% higher to $24.77

Westpac is 0.18% lower to $22.04

10.37am: Modest gains among the big miners so far today:

BHP - up 0.9% to $34.34

Rio - up 0.43% to $65.47

Fortescue - up 0.68% to $5.89

10.29am: And to some of the early sliders on the ASX200:

Aquarius Platinum - down 2.9%

Ramelius Resources - down 2.44%

Linc Energy - down 2.36%

Alacer Gold - down 1.97%

Paladin Energy - down 1.97%

Sundance Resources - down 1.74%

10.22am: To the early gainers on the ASX200:

Energy Resources Australia - up 5.82%

CSL - up 2.87%

Ten Network - up 2.52%

Ausdrill - up 2.28%

Lynas Corp - up 2.28%

10.18am: All sectors trading in positive territory:

Health - up 1.58%

Info tech - up 0.63%

Utilities - up 0.37%

Telecoms - up 0.28%

Financials - up 0.13%

10.13am: In early trade, the All Ordinaries index is 9.4 points higher, or 0.2 per cent, to 4391.9, while the benchmark S&P/ASX200 is 10 points higher, or 0.2 per cent, to 4312.3.

10.06am: Early take - stocks move into positive territory, but only just. Up 0.1 per cent.

9.55am: CSL shares could see a modest bump today after UBS upgraded the company to a 'buy' on news that its Hizentra product would remain the only one of its type available to the US market for at least 1 year after the FDA requested more information for a rival product from Baxter.

9.52am: Australia bond future prices are slightly weaker following mixed leads from overseas. ANZ senior interest rate strategist Shane Lee said bond futures had opened slightly weaker on Tuesday in the absence of any clear direction from overseas.

‘‘There wasn’t a huge lead overnight. Data in the US was pretty mixed and the Spanish bond market was fairly poor,’’ he said.

At 8.30am the June 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.250 (implying a yield of 3.750 per cent) down slightly from Monday’s close of 96.255 (3.745 per cent). The June three-year bond futures contract was at 96.810 (3.190 per cent) down from 96.830 (3.170 per cent).

9.48am: Still no word from CommBank, Westpac and NAB on whether they will be raising rates following the ANZ's decision on Friday to raise its interest rates by six basis points.

9.46am: The Australian dollar is higher after increased demand for the euro currency increased global investor risk appetite. A few moments ago the currency was trading at $US1.0352, up from $US1.0327 on Monday afternoon.

Westpac New Zealand senior currency strategist Imre Speizer said increased demand for the euro, which rose more than one cent against the US dollar overnight, rubbed off on the Australian dollar.

9.42am: Ms Spooner has written a preview piece ahead of today’s action:

Family stress, bad behaviour and poor health are some issues expected to be discussed in relation to the impacts of FIFO arrangements on workers, according to written submissions lodged with the inquiry's committee last year.

However, the economic and social impacts of the rapidly expanding flying workforce on regional development and remote communities are expected to take centre stage.

9.38am: Something else to look out for today. BusinessDay's Perth-based resources writer Rania Spooner is attending the FIFO inquiry in Perth today and filing live as its unfolds.

The focus today will be on miners views of FIFO (Fortescue, Chevron, AngloGold Ashanti). There is expected to be a lot of talk about the skills shortage and the practicalities of mining in remote regions.

9.35am: Locally today, the RBA releases the minutes of its April board meeting at which the central banks decided to leave official interest rates on hold. Also, miners Rio Tinto and Fortescue release March quarter production reports.

9.32am: For a comprehensive look at today's business news, check the need2know and the business press digest. Here are this morning's key markets links: